Chapter XXII.

1. There are several kinds of eagles. One which is called pygargus (hen-harrier), which is found in plains and groves, and in the vicinity of towns. Some persons call it nebrophonus. It is a courageous bird, and flies to mountains, and woods also. The other kinds rarely appear in plains and groves. There is another kind of eagle called plangus, the second in point of size and strength, which lives among thickets, and valleys, and marshes. It is called nettophonus and morphnus. Of this kind Homer speaks at the departure of Priam.

2. There is another kind, which is black. It is smaller, and stronger than the others. It inhabits mountains and woods. It is called melanæetus, and lagophonus. This is the only one that rears and educates its young. It is swift, elegant, liberal, fearless, warlike, and of a good omen, for it neither cries nor screams. There is another kind with spotted wings. It has a white head, and is the largest of all eagles. Its wings are short, and its rump very long, like the vulture; it is called oreipelargus, and hypæetus. It inhabits groves. It has all the faults of the rest, and none of their good qualities; for it is taken and pursued by ravens and other birds. It is a heavy bird, and its mode of life is bad. It carries about dead creatures; it is always hungry, and screams and cries.

3. There is another kind of eagle called sea eagle, which has a long and thick neck, curved wings, and a wide rump. It inhabits the sea and the coast. When they have seized their prey, and cannot carry it away, they are borne down into the sea. There is, again, another kind of eagle, called true eagle. They say that these alone of all other birds are true, for the other kinds are mixed and crossed with each other, both eagles, hawks, and other smaller kinds. This is the largest of all the eagles, greater than the phene; one and a half times as large as other eagles, and of a red colour: it is seldom seen, like that called cymindis.

4. The time for the activity of the eagle, and for its flight, is from dinner till the evening, for it sits aloft till the time when the market-place begins to fill. When eagles grow old, their beaks become more and more curved, so that at last they die of famine. The story goes, that the eagle was once a man, and suffers this as a punishment for inhospitality to a guest. Any superabundant food is put aside for their young in their nests, for it is not easy for them to procure it every day, and sometimes they have no place from whence to bring it.

5. If they find anyone attempting to take their nest, they beat them with their wings, and tear them with their claws. They do not make their nests in plains, but in high places, especially in precipitous rocks, but never on trees. They rear their young till they can fly, and then turn them out of their nests, and drive them to a great distance; for one pair of eagles occupies a wide space of country, so that they will suffer no others to live near them.

6. They do not hunt their prey near their nests, but at a considerable distance; and when they have hunted and taken anything, they lay it down and do not take it away at once, but carry it away when they have tried its weight. They do not capture hares at once, but let them escape to the plain. They do not descend to the plain at once, but with large though gradually decreasing circles. They do this in order that they may not be ensnared. They settle upon eminences, because they cannot rise easily from the ground. They fly aloft, that they may see the greater extent of country. For this cause men say that the eagle is the only divine bird.

7. All birds with crooked claws avoid sitting upon rocks, for its hardness is injurious to their claws. The eagle hunts fawns, hares, and other animals which it is able to conquer. It is a long-lived bird. This is plain from the long continuance of their nests in the same place.

8. In Scythia there is a kind of bird as large as a bustard, which produces two young ones. It does not sit upon its eggs, but hides them in the skin of a hare or fox. It watches them from a neighbouring tree all the while it is not engaged in hunting its prey. And if anyone approaches them, it fights and strikes with its wings, like the eagle.